Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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209. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is concerned at reports that an airline (details supplied) plans to use its Irish subsidiary to allow it to skirt Norway's employment laws, eroding wages and disrupting work practices; his views on assertions that the airline created this subsidiary specifically to circumvent Norwegian employment law and to allow it to source long-haul crews from South-East Asia on lower wages; if he will withdraw the support of the Irish authorities for the application by the company to the department of transport of the United States of America for a foreign carrier permit, which was offered, in writing, by a former Minister on 13 February 2014 (details supplied); how he will ensure that Ireland is not used by this airline to drive down wages and conditions for airline staff. [11021/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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​Norwegian Air International (NAI) was licensed as an Irish airline in February 2014 and has been gradually growing since then. It now operates 37 Irish registered aircraft, out of several European bases, and has several hundred people working for it. The airline applied for a permit to operate to the US, including the announced services from Cork; however that permit is still pending. The permit application has been subject to an ongoing public consultation process in the US. Multiple submissions have been made both for and against the application. Those opposed to NAI have raised similar issues to those outlined in the Deputy's question. My Department has recently made a public submission reiterating its concerns regarding the potential implications this case is having for the reputation of Ireland and Irish aviation. The submission makes it clear that there is no basis for the irresponsible, unfounded and damaging public statements that have been made about the standard of social and employment protection in Ireland and about the capability of the Irish regulatory authorities to effectively oversee the safety of NAI’s operations.

The Norwegian Air Group has stated that its primary motivation for establishing an Irish airline was to have an EU based airline within the group (Norway is not a member state of the EU). Other reasons cited included the Irish aircraft financing regime, the considerable aviation cluster located in Ireland and the highly regarded Irish civil aviation authorities.

The airline has stated that NAI has no Asia-based crew and that U.S. and EU-based crew will be used on NAI transatlantic services. It also stated that Norwegian always follows the rules and regulations in all the markets in which it operates and offers employees competitive wages and conditions.

I can confirm that I am fully supportive of the airline's US permit application and I look forward to the permit being granted as soon as possible, so that the airline can continue to offer innovation and competition in the air transport market between Europe and the US. 

I would be grateful if the Deputy could produce any evidence, and the source of any such evidence, that the airline plans to use its Irish subsidiary to bypass Norwegian employment laws, erode wages and disrupt work practices.